Speed of Bird Flight

Vol.19113 L]J COOKE,$pe• Of Bin• Flight. 309

SPEED OF BIRD FLIGHT.

COMPILED BY MAY THACHER COOKE,

DEFINrrE recordsof the speedof bird flight are sometimeshard to find. Quite a few suchrecords exist; but they are scattered, manyin publicationsnot readilyaccessible. In orderto facilitate furthers•udy of this interestingsubject it seemsdesirable to bring togetherthese records for North Americanspecies, where they will be readilyavailable. Scatteredthrough sportsman's magazines are many so-called recordsof the speedof game birds, most of which are estimates basedon calculationsthat were at best largely guesswork. In recent years, however,the air-speedindicator and automobile speedometerhave given means by which individualsof many specieshave been definitelytimed. Also studieshave been made of birds flying acrossmeasured distances, timed by stop watches and theodolites. These are furnishinga fairly definite under- standingof the rate at whichbirds of differentkinds fly, and in generalthe speedsso determined are muchlower than wasformerly supposed. Some of the smaller Passeres have been found to make less than 20 milesper hourin ordinaryflight, and recordsof ducksand geese averagedlittle over 40 miles per hour. At the other extreme is the hunting Peregrine. Portal, an experiencedfalconer, estimates this bird'saverage maximum speed of level flight throughstill air as 62 milesper hour, and somehave estimatedthat it strikesits prey at 150 milesper hour. McLean timed a Duck Hawk hunting over a 400-yard field in California,whose average speed was over 165miles per hour and whose greatest speed was 180 miles per hour. Extreme as thesespeeds seem, they are possiblyexceeded by some of the Swifts. Ten yearsago Col. RichardMeinertzhagen published'in 'The • Ibis' a very comprehensivearticle in which he collectedand ana- lyzed the availableinformation on this subject. He reported,as the experienceof aviators,that geesecan acceleratevery little, but that duckswhen pressedcan speedup to about 60 milesper 310 COOKE,Speed ofBird Flight. [JLGy[Auk hour. He concludedthat birds have two speeds,"a normal rate which is used for every-day purposesand also in migration, and an aeeeleratedspeed whieh in someeases nearly doubles the rate of their normal speed." This acceleratedspeed, however, cannot be maintainedfor any length of time. Several reeent articles on the meehanies or aeronauties of bird flight are not ineluded in the following annotated bibliography whieh shows the soutees and nature of the material summarized in the appendedtable. BASSETT,FRANK N. 1921. The Speedof a Flying Dove. Condor, vol. 23, p. 190-191. [BRUETTE,WILLIAM]. 1917. Birds and Aviators. Forest & Stream, vol. 87, p. 603. (Ducks average65• milesper hour when flying upwards;69 milesper hour when flying horizontally [air speed?].) CLARKE••r. EAGLE. 1912. Studiesin Bird Migration. London,Gurney & Jackson,2 vols. 8vo. II. p. 29. (Recordsof skylark and starling.) CLAYTON,H. HELM. 1897. The Velocity of a Flight of Ducks obtained by Triangulation. Science,New Series,vol. 5, p. 26. (The Height and Velocity of the Flight of a Flock of Geesemigrating northward. Ibid. p. 585-586. Measured by theodolites.) GLADSTONE,HuGa S. 1922. Record Bags and Shooting Records. London, H. F. & G. Witherby, 240 pp., 8vo. (Chapter, "The Speedof Birds," p. 173-197, quotes many published records and discussesthe effect of wind on speedof flight.) GRINNELL,GEORGE BIRD. 1881. Flight of Birds. Forest & Stream, vol. 17, p. 247. (Data for pigeons.) 1901. American Duck Shooting. New York, Forest & Stream Pub~ lishing Co., 623 pp., 8vo. p. 509-510. (A flock of Pintails flew somedistance parallel to a train going 52 miles per hour.) 1903. Timing the Flight of Birds. Forest & Stream, vol. 41, p. 375. (Data for pigeons,pintail, and starlings.) HARRISSON,T. H. 1931. On the Normal Flight Speed of Birds. British Birds, vol. 25, p. 86-96. (Speedscarefully timed by auto or motorcycle speedometer. Data for 36 species. Bibliography.) HA'ireS,SAMUEL P., JR. 1020. Speedof a Flying Hummingbird. The Auk, vol. 46, p. 116. COOKE, Brd 311

HOLLAND,i•Y P. 1924• HOWFast Can a Quail Fly? OutdoorLife, vol. 53, p. 70. (Avi- ators say that at 65 miles per hour they can overtake the fastestducks.) How Fast Can a Quaff Fly? Ibid., p. 151. (Timed with stop- watch from time bird flushed until secondbarrel was fired; estimatedabout 48 miles per hour.) JONES,Lr•ros. 1927. lqighwayMortality and Speedof Flight. Wilson Bulletin, vol. 39, p. 8-10. (Long-billedCurlew and flock of gulls timed by auto.) LONGS•I•EE?,R. J. 1930. Noteson Sp•d of Flight of Certain Water Birds. The Auk, vol. 47, p. 428-429. (Twelvespecies timed by auto speedometer.) MARTIN, EDWARDT. 1916. The Speedof Ducks. Forest& Stream,vol. 86, p. 1147. (Diving ducksfaster than puddleducks; teal not sofast as Canvasback and Scaup.) McLEAN, I). I). 1930. The Speedof Flight in Certain Birds. The Gull, vol. 12, no. 3. (Discussesthe speedof 13 speciestimed by auto speedometer.) MEINERTZHAGEN,RICHARD. 1921. Somepreliminary remarks on the Velocity of Migratory Flight amongBirds, with specialreference to the PalaearcticRegion. Ibis, p. 228-238. Reprintedin Smithson]anReport for 1921, p. 365-372. (The most comprehensivediscussion of the subject.) MUNSON,EDWARD L. 1930. Timing the Ducks. Field & Stream, vol. 35, p. 18-20, 70. (Tests made by airplane, chasingducks; i.e. gives the maximum speedof whichthe birdswere capable;five species.) [MuRPHY,WILLIAM W.] 1905. How Fast do Birds Fly? Forest & Stream, vol. 65, p. 330. (Engineerof fast train has raced birds flying parallel to or aheadof his engine;five species.) Pm•z•s, JOHNC. 1922. A Natural Historyof the Ducks. Vol. I, p. 22-23. (Somediving ducks faster near ground than Mallard-like species. Extra speedof teal more apparentthan real. 40-50 milesper hour, commonspeed in migration; 55-60 miles per hour possibleby somespecies.) POR•, C. F. A. 1922. The Speedof Birds. Field (London),vol. 139, p. 233-4. (Speed is partly individual, one partridgeof a coveywas seento fly 15 per cent faster than the otherswhen all wereat full speed. Author, an experiencedfalconer, gives average maximum speedof level flight throughstill air of seventeenspecies.) 312 COOKE,Speed ofBird Flight. [JulyAuk

E. P. R. 1913. How Fast Do Ducks Fly? Forest & Stream, vol. 80, p. 41. (Conductorsaid train often raced ducksand at 50 milesper hour the train usually won.) RADCLIFFE,C. r. 1922. The Speedof Birds. Field (London),vol. 139, p. 234. (The heaviestbird of a given type is the fastestwhen it getsgoing. Quickerflush and riseof smallerbird deceptive. No bird can beat a Peregrine Falcon.) RITTER, C. B. 1910. Speedof Birds and Animals. AmericanField, vol. 73, p. 200. (Observationsof a locomotiveengineer.) ROBINSON,•I. W. 1922. What is the FastestBird? Field (London),vol. 139, p. 138. (ConsidersMerganser going down wind one of the fastest of all birds.) WETMORE,ALEXANDER. 1916. The Speedof Flight of CertainBirds. Condor,vol. 18, p. 112- 113. (Sevenspecies timed by auto speedometer.) WHITE, FRANCISBEACH. 1927. Birds and Motor Cars. The Auk, vol. 44, p. 265-266. 1929. Birds and Motor Cars. The Auk, vol. 46, p. 399. (Speedsof thirteen speciesof Passeres.) WOOD. HAROLD B. 1923. The Speedof Flight of Birds. BirdsLore,vol. 25, p. 121. (Rec- ordsof eightspecies timed by auto speedometer.)

Auk 314 CookE, Speedof Bird Flight. July

'-0 VoL19aa L•J 0oor,•,,•peed ofBird Fli•hi. 315 316 Coo•,Speed ofBird Flight. [j•lyAuk